Societal wellbeing is often threatened by extreme weather hazards. In 2012 alone, 8,000 properties were affected by flood in the United Kingdom (RICS, 2015) and a flood damage claim of up to £373million was paid on business properties, excluding interruption claims (ABI, 2013). Recently, Floodlist (2020) estimated the property market loss from February 2020 flood in the United Kingdom as £297 million. As a result, there have been calls for a reduction in losses from climate impact and a reduction of the pressure on the insurance industry. This accentuates the need to retrofit properties against extreme weather events. Although there has been reasonable attention to helping communities and businesses at risk of flooding (Adeniyi et al., 2019), closer and detailed attention to property-level retrofitting with improved scientific analysis is germane. Despite the impacts of extreme weather events, options for retrofitting and consequential reduction in disaster risks and impact are still not being optimised. This is significantly due to the non-willingness of homeowners to spend on retrofitting. The major argument has been the scant evidence of a convincing favourable relationship between the benefits of retrofitting and the cost of retrofitting. Therefore, persuasions and incentives aimed at convincing homeowners to commit to retrofitting need to be supported further by a scientific argument. This study intends to strengthen research in this direction and contribute to the body of knowledge on flood retrofitting of homes with a focus on the built environment and adequate consideration for other disciplines. The study intends to reveal existing and future flood retrofitting options for homes, identify and prioritise the factors (i.e. inhibitors and enablers) affecting homeowners’ uptake decisions using a Multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) technique. An outline of methodically identified costs and benefits is expected together with a compendium of best practices on process and product options. A structural model showing the relationship between cost variables and benefit variables is expected via Structural Equation Modelling. This will enhance the understanding of the cost and benefit components in the context of home resilience to flooding. Ultimately, the technique of multi-criteria analysis and the principles of fuzzy synthetic evaluation can be used to establish a financial argument on the interaction between cost and benefit of retrofitting flood-prone residential structures. This study will be valuable to homeowners and housing associations, local authorities and construction professionals among others, it will be a piece of important scientific evidence in discussions on retrofitting flood-prone structures. The study aligns with the Construction Futures and the People and Places Research themes in Northumbria University, United Kingdom.
Eligibility and How to Apply:
Please note eligibility requirement:
· Academic excellence of the proposed student i.e. 2:1 (or equivalent GPA from non-UK universities [preference for 1st class honours]); or a Masters (preference for Merit or above); or APEL evidence of substantial practitioner achievement.
· Appropriate IELTS score, if required.
· Applicants cannot apply for this funding if currently engaged in Doctoral study at Northumbria or elsewhere.
Please note: Applications that do not include a research proposal of approximately 1,000 words (not a copy of the advert), or that do not include the advert reference (e.g. RDF21/EE/ABE/ADENIYIOnaopepo) will not be considered.
For further details of how to apply, entry requirements and the application form, see
https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research-degrees/how-to-apply/
Northumbria University takes pride in, and values, the quality and diversity of our staff. We welcome applications from all members of the community.
Recent publications by supervisors relevant to this project (optional)
Adeniyi, O., Perera, S., Ginige, K., & Feng, Y. (2019). Developing maturity levels for flood resilience of businesses using built environment flood resilience capability areas. Sustainable Cities and Society, 51, 101778.
Adeniyi, O., Perera, S., & Ginige, K. (2018). Built environment flood resilience capability maturity model. Procedia engineering, 212, 776-783.
Adeniyi, O., Perera, S., & Collins, A. (2016). Review of finance and investment in disaster resilience in the built environment. International Journal of Strategic Property Management, 20(3), 224-238.
T. Wigglesworth, O. Adeniyi, K. Ginige and J. Pearson (2017): “A Situational Paradigm on Flooding and Built Environment Interventions in the UK”, The 6th World Construction Symposium 2016, 30 June - 2 July, University of Moratuwa, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
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